Because The Humane Society of the United States
and other animal protection organizations, as part
of the
Protect Seals Network, have been working hard
to stop Canada's seal hunt, you have likely heard
misleading statements by sealing industry
spokespeople with a vested interest in continuing
this annual slaughter. Take a few minutes to learn
the truth about this cruel and unjustifiable
hunt—and then log on to
http://www.protectseals.org/
to get a glimpse, through words and video, of the
gruesome practice that Canadian officials claim is
"98% humane."

Why Is The HSUS Using Graphic Pictures?

Most people are unaware that Canada's commercial
seal hunt continues. That's why we must work to
inform the world that the seal hunt is back—bigger
and crueler than ever. It is the barbarity of this
slaughter that generates so much opposition. The
commercial seal hunt occurs miles offshore, far
away from a public that would be horrified to
witness it. And that is why we show these images.
It is not pleasant to see animal suffering. But it
is only through observing that we can understand
what is happening, and then work to end to the
suffering.

Why Not Just Go After the Markets for
Seal Products?

We are actively
involved in Europe to close markets for seal
products. Recently, the Belgian government
announced its intention to ban all trade in seal
products, which already is illegal in the United
States. Similar initiatives are underway in the
United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Italy, and other
European countries.

But more work is needed. With increasingly
smaller markets for seal products, the Canadian
government may try to subsidize more slaughter,
which would still give sealers an incentive to
kill seals. We are therefore seeking to pressure
the Canadian government through a global
seafood boycott; The HSUS, of course, is
focusing on the United States, where most Canadian
seafood is sold. We believe the Canadian
government will soon realize a boycott of its
seafood products is too high a price for
continuing the seal hunt.

Why Isn't The HSUS Spray-Painting the
Seals?

Several decades ago,
organizations protesting the commercial seal hunt
painted some seals with dye to make their skins
valueless to the fur industry. Very quickly, the
Canadian government enacted legislation making
this an illegal activity. Today, our ability to
observe and document this slaughter is contingent
upon adhering to the conditions of our observation
permits, which do not allow us to disrupt the seal
hunt.

Should I Sign the Pledge to Boycott
Canadian Seafood If I'm Vegetarian?

This
pledge
is intended for everybody. Even if you don't
consume seafood, please voice your concern by
signing the pledge to show both the seafood
industry and government of Canada unified
opposition to the seal hunt. Also, please ask the
managers and buyers in the restaurants and grocery
stores you frequent not to buy or sell Canadian
seafood, even if you are a vegetarian. Since the
seafood industry is in a position to help stop the
commercial seal hunt, we need to target all
seafood products exported from Canada. For more
information on why we think this is the most
effective tactic, please go to our
main boycott page.

Won't a Boycott Harm Innocent People
Who Do Not Hunt Seals?

By permitting
this slaughter to continue, the Canadian
government has exposed itself to international
ridicule and threatened the livelihood of its
fishermen. After nearly four decades of
unsuccessful negotiations with the government, we
are launching a global boycott of Canadian seafood
products until the commercial seal hunt finally
ends. Several months ago, officials with Canada's
Department of Fisheries and Oceans told us this
outcome will only come about if Canada's fishing
industry requests it. The implication is that
everyone involved in Canada's fishing industry can
stop the seal hunt. We sincerely regret the impact
on those who are not involved in the sealing
industry, and we ask them to work with us to end
the commercial seal hunt before Canada's fishing
industry pays a steep price.

Seal hunting is an off-season activity of a few
thousand fishermen from Canada's east coast. They
make, on average, about 5% of their income from
sealing, and the rest from commercial fisheries.
Seventy percent of Canadian seafood is exported to
the United States each year, and this gives
American consumers some leverage in ending the
seal hunt.

If members of the Canadian fishing industry
help us in demanding an end to the seal hunt, the
government is more likely to listen and stop the
slaughter. For more information on why we think
this is the most effective strategy, please go to
our
main boycott page.

Why Is The HSUS Using White Coat
Imagery? Is It Legal to Kill Baby Seals?

Make no mistake: This hunt is still very much one
for babies. Ninety-six percent of the seals killed
are under three months of age. For an animal who
may live more than 35 years, these are babies by
any standard. No one is saying that white coats
(those under 12 days) are being targeted. However,
baby seals may be killed when they are just
beginning to lose their white fur and still appear
to be a white coat. These seals are called ragged
jackets, and we use their pictures often in our
campaign. Most have not yet had their first solid
meal or taken their first swim—and they literally
have no escape from the hunters.

Why Does The HSUS Demand an End To the
Hunt and Not Just Better Regulations and
Enforcement?

The HSUS wants an end to
this hunt because it is unconscionable to kill
seals for their fur and skin. Moreover, the
participation of a civilized nation like Canada in
the largest slaughter of marine mammals on earth
sets an atrious example for the treatment of our
fellow creatures on earth. In addition, the
Department of Fisheries and Oceans has not lodged
any charges to date in response to the cruelty
complaints it has received, despite the hard work
of animal advocates who have documented violations
and abuses.

Does the Average Canadian Support or
Oppose the Hunt?

According to a 2004
poll by Ipsos Reid, more than 70% of Canadians
believe the commercial seal hunt should either be
banned or limited to seals over one year of age.
(Ninety-seven percent of the 365,000 seals killed
in the 2004 hunt were babies under three months,
and the majority were less than three weeks old.)

Many Canadian groups are working with us to
stop the hunt, including the Vancouver Humane
Society, Nova Scotia Humane Society, Animal
Alliance of Canada, Environment Voters, Global
Action Network, Greenpeace Canada, International
Fund for Animal Welfare, World Society for the
Protection of Animals-Canada, The Green Party of
Canada, and many other Canadian organizations.

You can read some of the many positive comments
from concerned Canadians about our campaign on
this page.

Will the Hunt Harm the Harp Seal
Population?

Though the harp seal
population has increased since the 1970s when they
were severely over-hunted, their current numbers
are just recovering from an all-time population
low in the 1950s. Government scientists estimate
that the harp seal herd has been declining since
1996, and the current plan is predicted to reduce
the population even further. Poor ice conditions
in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where many harp seals
give birth, may already be affecting the species
as well.

Harp seal experts, The HSUS, the International
Fund for Animal Welfare, Greenpeace, and our
Protect Seals Network cite a wealth of
scientific evidence showing the insustainability
of the seal hunt. Ice cover off the Atlantic
coast, where seals give birth, is rapidly
thinning, and there is evidence of rising seal
mortality rates. Furthermore, cruelty to wildlife,
whether rare or abundant, should not be tolerated.

Greenpeace recently came out with a thorough
report
on the Canadian government's extreme mismanagement
of the harp seal population.

Won't Stopping the Seal Hunt Hurt the
Cod Population?

The decline of cod and
other fisheries is caused by over-fishing, not
marine mammals. Please see this page
for a report from the internationally respected
harp seal biologist, Dr. David LaVigne, who gives
evidence that the Canadian government is
mismanaging the seal hunt population, and that it
is more concerned with its own economic interests
than the health of the seal and cod population.

Is the Seal Hunt Humane and Is Clubbing
Still Allowed?

The seals are clubbed
as well as shot. Hakapiks (primitive clubs) are
legal and commonly used. If you watch the footage
of this year's commercial seal hunt at
http://www.protectseals.org/
you will see the hunters frequently using clubs.
In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, clubs and hakapiks
are the killing implement of choice, and in The
Front, guns are more widely used. The DFO has
shown little interest in reducing the inherent
cruelty of the hunt and enforcing its own
regulations.

In 2001, a report by an independent team of
respected veterinarians, who were invited by IFAW
to observe the hunt, also concluded that
governmental regulations were neither being
respected nor enforced, and that the seal hunt
failed to comply with Canada's basic animal
welfare regulations. The veterinarians found a
disturbing number of seals (as many as 40%)
probably were skinned while alive and conscious.
You can read the
full report here.

As for the Canadian Veterinary Medical
Association study claiming that only 2% of the
seals were killed inhumanely, some have questioned
the reliability of a survey in which those
carrying out the killing knew they were being
observed.

Is Shooting Seals Humane?

Shooting, like clubbing, is extremely inhumane;
because hunters shoot at seals from moving boats,
the pups are often only wounded. The main sealskin
processing plant in Canada deducts $2 for each
bullet hole on a pelt. Therefore sealers are loath
to shoot seals more than once. As a result,
wounded seals are left to suffer in agony and many
slip beneath the surface of the water where they
die slowly and are never recovered.

Isn't the Canadian Seal Hunt an
Aboriginal Hunt?

Subsistence seal
hunts are not the target of the Protect Seals
campaign. Fewer than 1% of harp seals last year
were killed by aboriginal people in Canada. The
truth is that the commercial seal hunt near
Newfoundland and in Gulf of St. Lawrence is a
large scale, industrial slaughter conducted by
non-native people. Powerful ice-breaking boats and
sophisticated aerial-spotting techniques enable
hunters to pinpoint seals with relative ease. This
year, the combination of high-tech equipment and
old-time brutality will translate into more than
300,000 dead seals in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and
off the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Isn't The Hunt Acceptable Because It Is
Not Wasteful—All the Products Are Put to Use?

The commercial hunt specifically benefits the
fur fashion industry. The seals are skinned
for their pelts and fat, and virtually all of the
seal meat is left to rot on the ice. A very small
amount of meat is sold to Canadian factory fur
farms. These seals are killed primarily for the
European and Asian fur fashion industry, and used
by such major designers as Versace and Prada. That
is not for subsistence by any means.

The use of seal oil is insignificant, and the
Canadian government promotes its use to justify
the hunt. There are plenty of alternatives on the
market, including flax oil, which does not entail
cruelty.

Is the Hunt Well-Regulated and Are the
Regulations Monitored or Enforced?

Enforcement of hunt regulations is spotty and
inadequate at best. The HSUS Protect Seals team
witnessed first-hand the terrible cruelty and
brutality of the hunt on March 29. They saw
animals being clubbed and left for dead, when the
animals were still alive and struggling to
survive. One seal, in particular, was clubbed, and
she dragged herself around for 90 minutes while
suffocating in her own blood. In past years,
witnesses have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of
animals skinned alive on the ice. They have rarely
seen the blink reflex test administered.

The
blink-reflex test is very simple. It involves
leaning over and touching the dead animal's
eyeball. If the animal doesn't blink, it is in
fact dead. If it does blink, it's an indication
the animal is alive and possibly conscious. Unless
sealers administer this test, they have no way of
knowing if the animal they're skinning is dead.
Last year, witnesses did not see the test
administered at all. This is a clear violation of
the marine mammal regulations, but one that the
government appears unable to enforce.

Does the Canadian Government Subsidize
the Hunt?

The commercial seal hunt
receives many forms of subsidies from the Canadian
government. The Canadian Institute for Business
and the Environment reports that the government
provided more than $20 million in subsidies to the
sealing industry between 1995 and 2001. They are
made in the form of interest-free loans and grants
to cover wages and capital costs for processing
companies, for companies to develop seal products,
and for product marketing trips overseas.

Why Is The HSUS Trying to Hurt the
Economy of Poor Coastal Communities?

Economic analysis shows that the seal hunt has
very little positive economic effect on
Newfoundland. The Canadian government and fishing
industry are promoting the hunt in spite of
worldwide opposition that has led to a boycott of
all Canadian seafood.

The HSUS is urging the government of Canada to
help individuals caught in the tragedy of
slaughtering seals to develop livelihoods in other
occupations and in other segments of the economy.
Few believe that killing seals will continue to be
a viable livelihood for the next century.

When the Canadian government banned whale
killing, some discovered that whale watching tours
were more profitable. In the same respect, The
HSUS believes seal and other
wildlife-watching excursions would be better
for the economy and the ecology of the east coast.

Why Isn't The HSUS Working to Stop
Cruelty to Animals Who Are Less "Cute" Than Seals,
Such as Farm Animals?

Humane Society
International and The Humane Society of the United
States work to make the world a better place for
animals, regardless of how appealing the public
perceives those animals to be. The Canadian
commercial seal hunt is the largest slaughter of
marine mammals on earth, and we are working with
groups all around the world, including in Canada,
to stop it.

In addition to our campaign to save the seals,
The HSUS has an entire department devoted to
protecting
farm animals. We also work to protect many
other animals not considered to be as appealing as
baby seals, including
rattlesnakes
and rats
used in laboratories.

Why Isn't The HSUS Working to Stop
America's War in Iraq Instead of Focusing on
Seals?

We are the world's largest
animal protection organization, and our mission is
to help animals. If you have concerns about the
Iraq war, you can find many organizations that
work on peace issues. Since Canada’s seal hunt is
the largest slaughter of marine mammals in the
world, The HSUS is working vigorously to oppose
it.

Why Isn't The HSUS Working to Stop
Sealing in Its Own Country?

The HSUS
worked successfully to end the last commercial
seal hunt in the United States in 1985. It was
conducted on the Pribilof Islands in Alaska, and
the same arguments were made then that are used to
justify the seal kill in Canada. In the end, the
United States government provided economic
assistance and retraining to help citizens who
took part in seal killing. That program was
successful, and the same methods are needed now in
Canada.